very simple question

i bought a polarized capacitor.its 100 micro farads.i cant assign its cathode and anode side.could u help?
can we also assign by avometer?
can we assign the sides by the white line thats on my capacitor?
weell dont :lol: at me! i just started practising.

Take it back to where you bought it. All electrolytics should be clearly marked. Sounds like yours is defective.

If it has a white line it IS marked. The white line indicates the negative terminal. Sometimes there is a minus sign within the white line. If the capacitor has a light coloured case then it's usually a black line that indicates the negative terminal. On vertically mounting caps ( both leads on the same end) the side the line is on is the negative. On horizomtal mounting caps ( leads are at opposite ends) there should be an arrow within the line, pointing to the negative or the line is nearer the negative end of the case. With the latter, you can also see that the negative side is the metal casing.

Its a long time since I saw the positive terminal marked on small electrolytics.
Its different with tantalum capacitors, with these they mark the positive side with a '+' or a stripe. But 100micro would be quite a large tantalum so we can safely assume you got an electrolytic capacitor.

Make sure you do not exceed the peak voltage rating, which should be marked on the case.

Klaus

thanks

thanks.i got the idea.

do the leads have the same lenght?
if they dont, then the longer one is the +

what about the scheme

**broken link removed**
which one is the anode and cathode side

I don't think you posted that link properly, jackal, can you try again?

ok i understood it.

but it was the jdm programmer scheme link

The link is actually http://www.ic-prog.com/jdmprog.gif

A capacitor doesn't have an "anode" or "cathode" - only positive and negative terminals.

On the diagram, the side with a straight line and a "+" is the positive side, and the side with the curved line is the negative.

usually a capacitor is marked with a stripe Sometimes blue or white that indacates the negitive side

anode's cathode's I think ur confused with diodes???

Phasor said:

... A capacitor doesn't have an "anode" or "cathode" - only positive and negative terminals....

Click to expand...

An aluminium electrolytic capacitor has. It has an anodic film formed on the '+' aluminium plate during manufacture, but the '-' plate is plain aluminium.